


It's Track Season

by dyingpoet



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Canon Era, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, One Shot, Sports, tim/dallas mentioned but just so curly can give tim shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28641021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: Curly doesn't really mind going to Pony's track meets, the guy comes out first at almost every one, but boy are they long
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Curly Shepard
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	It's Track Season

**Author's Note:**

> just a lil one shot for the writers block <3

Curly was never real into sports, well _school_ sports anyway. He played football with the Curtis gang or in guys yards sometimes, that was fun since nobody was going off it about the rules and everything. Besides, most of the kids that played sports at Will Rogers was a soc or half of one anyway, and whenever they made them play whatever in gym a fight usually broke out between a greaser and a soc (it wasn’t _always_ Curly), and Curly figured if he ever got on a school team he’d get kicked out for something like that soon enough. 

Ponyboy thought different, about most everything but especially about sports, just track really. He was pretty damn fast, had all the ribbons in his room to prove it too, and he always tried telling Curly the socs weren’t really all that bad once they got going at practice, but Curly didn’t believe him. 

He did go to the meets though, as long as they were at home, and the one he was at now felt about the same as every other one he went too. Long. 

“Shit when’s he gonna fucking _go_.”

Tim didn’t even spare Curly a glance and lit up another cigarette. They always stood out a ways from the bleachers where there were usually just a couple other kids smoking and watching from afar. Neither of the Shepard’s were too fond of Will Rogers as a whole, and Tim would shoot himself before he ever sat in the stands with his kid brother at a track meet. 

“I don’t know when he’s runnin’, stupid,” Tim replied after a drag, sounding bored. “I ain’t stayin’ this whole time if he’s goin’ dead last, though, you can walk back.”

“Gee thanks.” Curly turned away from his brother and craned his neck to try and see if he could get a glance of Pony, but everyone except the runners was far off and they all looked the same from where he was standing. “You wanna bet on him winnin’?”

Tim tapped the ash off his cigarette and shook his head. “Nope, kid’s fast, ‘sides you ain’t got any scratch.”

“I could owe ya?”

“No.”

Curly kicked at the ground and walked up a little further towards the field, maybe he could hear what race they were on and figure out Pony from there. Tim was always a drag when he took him to these anyway, even though Curly knew he liked seeing the youngest Curtis win, took it as neighborhood pride or something. 

There was a screech of feedback up from that little box above the home bleachers where they kept the announcers, and Curly made a face when the guy started talking. He recognized the voice from his gym class. Guy was a jerk. 

_“Team’s will have their runners for the 800-meter race step up to the track…”_

Curly perked up at that, he was almost sure Pony had said he was running in the 800 and he walked quick back over to Tim. “He’s in this one.”

Tim barely nodded and turned to look at the track. “He out on the far side?”

“Yeah.” Curly bounced up on his heels a bit, he could see Pony now out on the last lane. They’d be able to see him pretty clear when he came around the turn on their side, and they ran around twice for this one. He’d always been glad Pony didn’t do any of the real long races, they weren’t as fun to watch.

_“Runners take your mark…”_

There was a bit of a hush from the mob of people on the bleachers, and Curly couldn’t hear good from where he was so the starting shot almost made him jump. And shoot was Ponyboy _fast_. 

The far lane was closest to them but by the time everyone came around the first turn they quit that and all started running on the inside. Pony was sort of in the middle of a group with three guys up front but he started pulling forward when he passed Tim and Curly the first time. Guy had long legs, that was for certain, and it probably didn’t hurt him when it came to running. 

The crowd was cheering hard when they came around the second time and Pony and another guy with a school jersey Curly didn’t recognize were pretty close, still in front of everyone else. 

“Should’a played football like the big one,” Tim commented after they turned off of their stretch onto the other side. “Running back.”

Curly snorted. “Shit, Baby Curtis playin’ football? Nah, them football boys are rough as hell, he’d quit before tryouts ended.”

Tim’s mouth turned up a little at the dig. It was all in good fun, after Tim found out they were going around together -not one of Curly’s finest moments but it could’ve been much worse- he’d called Pony “flower child” for a month just to get Curly hacked off. He steered into the skid with it now. 

Whatever they wanted to say about Pony though, he flew across the finish line a solid two paces ahead of the guy he’d been neck in neck with, and Curly let out a long holler when he did. He heard a similar one from somewhere in the stands and figured it was Sodapop, Curly’d gone to a meet with him once and he always got wild whenever the kid won too. 

“Shit he’s good at that, huh?” Curly said breathlessly to Tim once he’d cut out yelling. “Bet he wins the next one too.”

“Sure he will.” Tim yawned after he said it and raised an eyebrow when Curly gave him a look. “What?”

“Nothin’, gimme a stick?”

It was always a fifty fifty shot he’d say no if Curly asked, but this time he caved and just punched Curly in the shoulder while he was lighting up. “Used to bumming off the kid, huh?”

“We split packs,” Curly said matter-of-factly, pointedly ignoring Tim when he laughed in his face. 

It was nearly forty five minutes before Pony went up to run again, thankfully it was his last one or else Tim really would’ve ditched him there and gone home. It was the one of the relays where they passed off the pipe looking thing to the next guy then quit running. 

Pony was up first, and he smoked everyone else running with him by the time he passed it off and Curly made sure to cheer for him extra loud if not only to piss off Tim, but he didn’t watch the rest really. They came in second, but Pony won his bit so Curly didn’t care much.

“Kid ran fast, now let’s _go_.”

Tim never whined but he was getting close on that one. That race had been the last one of the day and everyone was starting to come out of the bleachers and wander over towards the two of them. He could catch Pony before Superman and the other one were all over him dragging him off, lord knew they wouldn’t let him go out with Curly after. Pony said it was just because Darry was got real serious when it came to track since he thought he could go for a scholarship. Curly knew the guy just didn’t like him much but he knew better than to say anything. 

“Gimme a second, alright? Gonna see if I can talk to ‘im ‘fore he goes.”

Tim didn’t even bother trying to hide an eye roll. “Fine, but I’m pullin’ the car up front and if you ain’t there in fifteen minutes I’m leavin’, savvy?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Curly was off before Tim could say anything else and started weaving through the crowd to try and get near that back gate all the track kids came out from to go back to the locker room. There were a whole bunch of parents giving him funny looks but he pushed past them and grinned wide when he saw Pony walk out, talking to some other kid on the team. 

When he saw Curly he smiled and said something to the kid before he walked off and started pulling Curly by the arm away from the crowd, already talking about the race. 

“I really thought Davis was gonna pull ahead at the end, those prep school kids always win the relay and give us shit for it,” he said, still a little breathless when they got a ways off, out by the visiting bleachers that went bare the second the meet was over. “Would’a been real nice to win.”

“Well you won yer part, don’t matter if the other guys can slow,” Curly defended, and he expected it when Pony smiled at him tiredly. 

“That ain’t how it works, Curly.”

Curly thought he looked real pretty, a word he’d started using in his head for the other boy without really realizing it, he always did after a meet or something he liked doing a whole lot. Will Rogers wore green and Pony’s eyes stuck out more when he did. 

“Well that’s how it works to me,” Curly replied smoothly, “so congrats on winnin’, and the other one from before, you won that one by a mile too.”

It was getting dimmer out with the sun setting and Pony was already red in the face from running, but Curly could tell he blushed anyway. “Well thanks, I just wanted to beat that one guy in the blue, from that school in suburbs? He was talkin’ all about how he was gonna win real loud with some other guys, boy I’m happy he lost.”

Curly tapped his foot and glanced over his shoulder. He could see Tim’s car idling out in the parking lot and Sodapop always seemed to sniff the two of them out after these things. “Sounds like a square, what’d he come in?”

Pony grinned. “Fourth.”

“Serves him right.” Curly pushed Pony back a bit so they really were under the bleachers, out of view. “Now though I gotta congratulate the _athlete_.”

He said it slow with three syllables, “ath-a-lete”, just to tease Pony, and the other boy looked at him, sheepish, until Curly stepped forward and closed the distance. He wasn’t sheepish then. 

They nearly smacked heads when a voice came floating over a few minutes later though, and Sodapop Curtis, damn bloodhound, walked out under the bleachers while Pony was flattening out his hair. Curly knew right away Soda knew what was going on but he had the good graces to keep his mouth shut about it. 

“Hey kid, been lookin’ all over for ya,” Soda greeted, clapping a hand on his brother’s shoulder and looking Curly up and down from behind them. “Curly, always seem to find the kid ‘fore I do, don’t ya?”

Pony looked like he was about to say something in Curly's defense but he beat him to it. No use making him get into it with Soda, Curly knew he got real torn up if they fought about anything, even something stupid like Curly and track meets. If the kid was a Shepard he'd of driven himself crazy by now with all the fighting they did. 

“It’s a gift,” Curly replied dryly. He took it as his cue to leave though, and he shot Pony a wink when he gave him an apologetic look as he walked off. “Good job Baby Curtis, see ya Soda Can.”

Soda sounded like he snorted at the nickname but Curly was already jogging off towards Tim’s car. He had his headlights on and started driving before Curly got his door shut. “That was twenty.”

“Lost track’a time.”

“Wonder how,” Tim deadpanned, throwing Curly against the side door when he whipped the car on the turn out of the school parking lot. 

Curly was silent for a second before a broad grin came over his face and he turned to face his brother. “Hey, Dallas been alright lately? Heard you ‘nd him were-”

Tim smacked him hard across the back of the head before he could finish the sentence and slammed his foot down on the gas. “Shut yer damn _mouth_ for _once_ Curly.”

He did, but he kept a smirk on his face the whole way back. Glory was he happy when he found out about the two of them, kept shit interesting. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope u guys liked this!! i love writing for them (even if this was mostly curly lmao)
> 
> kudos/comments are always appreciated!! if u have any prompts for the outsiders u can hmu on tumblr @staticky


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